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Spectral Soldados
by Andrew Hind
FATE :: November 2007
On February 17, 1836, General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, President of Mexico and self-styled “Napoleon of the West,” crossed the Rio Grande river with an army bent on vengeance. He had come marching furiously north at the head of 6,000 troops to crush a revolution that had broken out among the predominantly American settlers in Mexico’s easternmost province, Texas.
In his arrogance, Santa Anna could not conceive that the campaign would end in bloody defeat, his own capture, and the independence of Texas on a battlefield alongside the raging San Jacinto River. Nor could he possibly imagine that echoes of that fateful clash of arms would continue to play upon the winds nearly two centuries later.
San Jacinto Battleground State Park is only 30 miles from downtown Houston, but some people believe the distance should more properly be measured in years, not miles. How else does one explain the phantom musket shots and drifting cries of pain, or the sight of long-dead soldados (Mexican soldiers) fleeing from invisible enemies?
The ghosts at San Jacinto were 170 years old last year, for it was in 1836 that the 30,000 or so settlers of Texas (two-thirds of whom were Anglo-Americans) rebelled against their erstwhile Mexican overlords.
Santa Anna responded by marching north at the head of 6,000 troops, intent on running the rebels into the ground. For the first two months of the campaign, he did just that. On March 6, after a 13-day siege, the ramshackle fortress called the Alamo on the outskirts of San Antonio de Bexar fell in a bloody assault. Among the 186 Texan patriots killed were William Travis and frontier legends David Crockett and James Bowie. Then, on March 19, 400 men under Col. James Fannin were surrounded and forced to surrender. On Palm Sunday, March 27, they were marched out onto the prairie, lined up, and then shot—390 died; only 27 Texans managed to escape.
Meanwhile, the tiny and poorly-equipped Texan army led by Gen. Sam Houston retreated before the Mexican juggernaut, trading land for time and hoping desperately that Santa Anna would make a fateful escape. Reckless and overconfident, the Napoleon of the West rode ahead of his army with a small force, nipping at the heels of the rebels. In so doing, he handed Houston the opportunity he was looking for.
Houston suddenly swung his army about and bit back at the pursuing hounds. The stage was set for battle on April 21, a battle that would decide the fate of Texas.
While the Mexicans enjoyed an afternoon siesta, Houston prepared his men for combat. At 4:00 p.m., the lines surged forward. Incredibly, in what would prove to be one of the most fateful events in history, Santa Anna had failed to post sentries over his sleeping camp. Not until the Texans were virtually upon them were the Mexicans alerted to the danger, and by then it was too late.
As the Texans tore into them, many of the soldados threw down their weapons and begged for mercy. They died; no mercy had been extended at the Alamo and none would be on this day. Most of the rest fled for their lives. The actual battle lasted less than 18 minutes, but the shooting, clubbing, stabbing, and throttling went on for at least an hour. It stopped only when the Texans’ thirst for vengeance and blood had been sated.
The San Jacinto River was clogged with bodies and ran red with blood. The fields around it were an abattoir of death. More than 600 Mexicans had been killed, most cut down as they fled or attempted to surrender.
Texas had its independence, paid for with the blood of soldados.
As one might expect of a place where blood ran so freely, encounters with ghosts and unexplained activity have become almost commonplace at San Jacinto Battleground over the years...
Read the rest of this article in the November 2007 issue of FATE
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